Have you ever been stuck in traffic behind a really slow moving vehicle? This can be a very frustrating experience, especially when you're running late. In San Diego there is a highway where one exit leads from one highway directly onto another. To make matters worse there is a steep upward hill on the second highway which is used frequently by cement trucks. You can imagine the results as cars leave one highway traveling 55 miles per hour only to find a cement truck slowly making its way up the hill at 20 miles per hour or less.
One day a woman found herself on this highway behind a big yellow-and-red cement truck. The truck was traveling so slowly that she had to watch the tire tread to be sure the truck was actually moving. It seemed to take forever as the truck slowly approached the same exit that she was taking. After what seemed like an eternity the woman was finally able to pass the truck that slowed her down. To say she was upset would be an understatement. She was fuming. As she passed the truck she looked up at the driver, no doubt to give him a dirty look. But when she glanced up at him he was already looking at her. And then a hand puppet appeared in his window. It was a character from Sesame Street, and it was waving at her as the truck driver smiled. Well, that unexpected gesture changed the woman's attitude. She smiled and laughed. She was no longer upset. In fact she now says that as she drives that section of the highway she looks expectantly for that one yellow-and-red cement truck. (1)
Now that certainly isn't what you would have expected in such a situation. You might have expected angry words, or at least gestures, to be exchanged. But life is full of those times when the unexpected happens. Not everything that happens turns out that well, of course. Sometimes when the unexpected happens it upsets us. We like to be in control, and when the unexpected happens, we sometimes lose that control. Some of us don't appreciate the unexpected at all.
THAT WAS ONE OF JESUS' PROBLEMS: HE WASN'T WHAT PEOPLE HAD EXPECTED. His was an unconventional ministry was aimed at fishermen, tax collectors, and housewives ” people who were not the elite of his time. In spite of his astounding popularity, it was clear that he was charting his own course, and playing up to no-one. Some of his teachings even contradicted the conventional wisdom of his time.
Even the people Jesus was closest to ” his family ” did not understand what he was up to, and they were very concerned about him. They had heard disturbing reports about his teachings and healings. It was all so radically new that they thought he was beside himself. So when they heard that he was home in their village they set out to see him. If only they could have a few words with him with privately they might be able to do something. He had frankly become an embarrassment. Mark tells us that people were saying, "He has gone out of his mind." Jesus really wasn't what they expected. And that thread runs throughout his entire ministry. The people had a different expectation of what the Messiah would be like, and Jesus just didn't fit that expectation ” plain and simple.
It's like a man named Will. A reporter once asked Will if he went to church. "All the time," Will replied as he wiped mud from his cowboy boots. "I find church happens all the time." The reporter wasn't sure he understood. He thought that Will misunderstood his question. So he asked, "What do you do on Sunday mornings at eleven o'clock? Do you attend a church service?" "Oh," Will responded, "You mean do I go to those steeples. I thought you wanted to know if I went to church."
Then Will invited the reporter to lunch with him. They drove for several miles until they arrived at a crossroad which featured a combination service station, convenience store, and restaurant. As they entered, the reporter noticed that the place was nearly empty, and they found a table in the middle of the restaurant. Just a few minutes later some construction workers entered and filled the tables. Now the reporter had hoped to continue their earlier conversation about church, but was unable to do so because people kept interrupting. One man thanked Will for performing his sister's wedding. Another man reminded Will to visit his mother in the hospital. A third asked Will if he would talk to his wife because they were having problems. For almost an hour people came and asked Will to perform the functions of a minister. And each time Will responded.
At one o'clock the restaurant was empty again as all the workers went back out to their jobs. Will silently finished his sandwich, "Well," he said to the reporter, "church is over for today. Let's go home." (2) Will might not fit many people's expectations for a minister. He would certainly not fit the job description of most congregations. He had a different kind of ministry. But then, so did Jesus.
IT'S DIFFICULT TO PUT JESUS IN A BOX AND SAY, "THIS IS WHO HE IS." Even today Jesus is often an embarrassment to many who know him best.
Remember a few years ago when they polled people about various elements of the Bill of Rights? They discovered that a majority of Americans would not support many of our most basic rights if they were put to a vote. My guess is that the same thing would happen if we put many of Jesus' teachings to a vote among Christians. "Love your enemies. Turn the other cheek. Blessed are the poor." Would you vote for such sentiments? Many of us don't in our everyday lives.
There was a pop song back in the golden days of the televangelists that asked the question, "Would Jesus wear a Rolex?"
Where WOULD Jesus position himself today? Where would he stand on gun control? Or aid to Bosnia? Or abortion? You call yourselves his followers, but do you really think he would vote as you would? Or would he be an embarrassment? Or better yet, would we be an embarrassment to him?
Timothy George says he never understood the radical nature of Jesus' ministry until it was driven home in a dramatic way. He was in his first year as pastor of the First Baptist Church in, Chelsea, Massachusetts. Chelsea, says George, is one of the most isolated, economically deprived, inner-city sections of greater Boston: there are 27,000 people crowded into less than two square miles. Chelsea is a receptacle for all kinds of dropouts ” prostitutes, pimps, drug addicts, all the people who have not "made it" and probably never will.
Every new minister to Chelsea at that time soon became acquainted with one of these drop-outs, an alcoholic known to everyone as Johnny Cornflakes because he often rummaged through the trash, looking through the cereal boxes or whatever to find a bit of food. George's church sometimes gave Johnny Cornflakes food and clothes and tried to see that he had a place to spend the night.
One Sunday after church Timothy George and his wife held their first dinner party in Chelsea for out-of-town guests. They had worked very hard to make everything perfect: they had brought out their best linen and their finest dishes in order to make a good impression. But right in the middle of the main course the front door of the parsonage burst open. Into their dining room in all of his inebriated glory sauntered Johnny Cornflakes. Everyone was startled!
Timothy later wrote that he suddenly knew what the Pharisees must have felt like. "Johnny Cornflakes was someone you'd hand a sandwich to at the back door, someone you'd deliver a CARE package to at the inner-city mission, but definitely not someone you would invite to a Sunday dinner! Yet," George continues, "this is exactly what Jesus did, he invited all the Johnny Cornflakes of Jerusalem to Sunday dinner with the best linen and the finest dishes." (3)
It was because of acts like these that Jesus' family, his mother and other family members, were concerned about him. They thought he was overdoing it a bit. They came to talk some sense into him, and possibly take him with them.
Then there were the religious officials who had also heard reports of Jesus' deviant activity. They accused him of being in league with the devil.
Doesn't it make you wonder if the same thing would not happen today? Those of us who are religious officials would still be uncomfortable. Some of those who think they have Jesus all figured out would be deeply distressed. You can't put Jesus in a box and say, "This is who he is."
But there is one thing that I can say for sure: JESUS CARES ABOUT PEOPLE. I can't tell you for which political party Jesus would vote for. I would like to, of course, but it would only be my opinion. I can't tell you where Jesus would stand on some of the great issues of the day, and it would be presumptuous of me to try. Jesus was far too complex a man for us to pigeon-hole. But, I can tell you this: Jesus is FOR YOU and he is FOR ME and he is FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD ON THIS PLANET.
Let me tell you about a man named Paige Patterson. Paige's style of ministry and even his theology may not exactly fit ours, but Paige cares about people. Paige ministered to troubled youth in ways that no one else did. He would go to places where youth were, like bars, nightclubs and the streets. At first the people in his church were in shock. This was a new experience and a new ministry for them. But soon they got over their shock and got on board and began a campus ministry to reach out to youth. And the youth responded positively: they liked having people from the church meet them where they were without getting obnoxious.
One night Paige was asked to leave a nightclub because, the manager told him, he was running off his business. Paige says it was no big deal. Anyway, as he stepped out onto the front porch, Paige noticed a big man sitting there with a can of beer in his hand, who was a bouncer for the club. "Looks like it's been a rough night," Paige said casually. The big man nodded and said it indeed had been.
"I don't want to offend you," Paige told him, "but if you died where you're sitting right now, would you be in heaven or hell?" The man instantly crushed the can he was holding, and beer shot everywhere. "I can't believe you asked that question," he said in disbelief. "I was just sitting here thinking how I was going to kill myself when I got home."
"There's no reason to do that," Paige told him, "nothing's that bad." Then Paige began to witness to the man about his faith in Jesus Christ. He told the man that God still loved him. And the two men talked for the next thirty minutes. The next Sunday this man went to church and committed his life to Jesus Christ. (4)
Somehow I can see Jesus doing that kind of ministry if he were with us here physically today. Oh, not just in night clubs. But in offices and in living rooms and at Little League ball games ” any place he could be with and get to know people. Jesus cares about people. That means he cares about you and me. Don't be put off by the formality of "church." Look beyond the robes and rituals. Look to a risen Savior who gave his life for only one purpose: people.
Jesus was not what the people of his time expected. Even his own family was embarrassed by him. And Jesus was a very complex man ” not the kind of person you can easily define. But one thing we know. Everything he did ” every lesson he taught ” every indignity that he suffered ” was designed to bring you and me home to God.
1. Bob Morley. AEROBICS FOR THE SPIRIT. (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1990) p. 110.
2. Michael Elliot. PARTNERS IN GRACE. (Cleveland OH: The Pilgrim Press, 1992) pp. 24-25.
3. Timothy George. "Sunday Dinner or Backdoor Lunch?" SEEDS READER, August 1985.
4. Mike Bryan. CHAPTER AND VERSE. (New York: Random House, 1991) pp. 119-120.